Do Michigan lawyers lack for billable hours?

Is LEO having trouble spending its enormous budget?

Prohibiting work-related communication requirements during off-hours begs these questions, and more.

Thursday, June 18, 2026      12:00 noon

AGENDA

SB 948
Sen. Geiss
Labor: fair employment practices; requirement for an employee to access or respond to work-related communications outside of usual work hours; prohibit.

Testimony regarding the Healthcare Workforce

And any other business properly before the committee.

Senate Fiscal Agency: looks like they did exempt paid on-call from the ban. The lawyer question remains.

https://legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/billanalysis/Senate/pdf/2026-SFA-0948-G.pdf

The bill would enact the "Workplace Employee Boundaries Act" to do the following:

-- Prohibit an employer from requiring an employee to access or respond to work
related communications that concerned an employee's employment or
employment duties outside of the employee's usual work hours.
-- Allow an employee to establish after-hours availability and require an employee
that did so to notify that individual's employer of those hours.
-- Prohibit an employer from retaliating against an employee who did not reply to
after-hours communication or had an auto-reply that the employee was not
available.
-- Require the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) to receive and
investigate complaints regarding violations of the Act.
-- Allow LEO to impose a fine of up to $500 for a violation of the Act and specify
that the prosecutor of the county in which a violation of the Act occurred or the
Attorney General (AG) could bring an action to collect the fine.
-- Allow LEO to require an employer found in violation of the Act to compensate an
employee who had to respond to after-hours communication.
-- Require LEO to develop or adopt professional development training on workplace
boundaries and allow LEO to require an employer who violated the Act to
complete the training.

External checks and balances are also removed: public transparency, legislative oversight reports, and penalties.

Thursday, June 4, 2026     9:00 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 49
Sen. Cherry
Labor: health and safety; revisions to the occupational safety and health act; provide for.

SB 50
Sen. Cherry
Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; reference to section of the Michigan occupational safety and health act; amend to reflect repeal.

And any other business properly before the committee.

The Senate Fiscal Agency analysis is worth reviewing. (6 pages)

https://legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/billanalysis/Senate/pdf/2025-SFA-0049-G.pdf

Even more pertinent: who is pressing for this? Who benefits??

I hope the hearing makes that clear. This would have massive impact on healthcare, as well as all other areas of Michigan employment. (Except state employment, it would seem.)

Thursday, March 5, 2026     12:30 p.m.

AGENDA

SB 145
Sen. Anthony
Labor: fair employment practices; certain information about a job applicant's compensation history and credit history; prohibit an employer from seeking or asking about.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Thursday, September 4, 2025     8:30 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 161
Sen. Bumstead
Worker's compensation: disabilities; presumption of causation of heart and respiratory diseases; extend to certain members of police, fire, and public safety departments.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Thursday, October 23, 2025     8:30 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 49
Sen. Cherry
Labor: health and safety; revisions to the occupational safety and health act; provide for.

SB 50
Sen. Cherry
Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; reference to section of the Michigan occupational safety and health act; amend to reflect repeal.

HB 4017
Rep. Neyer
Labor: health and safety; penalty for failure to report a death; decrease by the maximum allowable amount if the death occurs to a certain individual on a family farm.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Thursday, October 30, 2025     2:00 p.m.

AGENDA

Testimony regarding overpayments and resulting collections.

Presentation from the Unemployment Insurance Agency on Benefit Overpayments.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Wednesday, November 12, 2025      12:30 p.m.

AGENDA

SB 700
Sen. Camilleri
Employment security: benefits; time period to recover improperly paid benefits; limit to not more than 3 years after the date the benefit is paid and require recovery waiver of certain benefits.

And any other business properly before the committee.

https://www.senate.michigan.gov/information/committees/all-committees/2025-2026/labor/

Most bills so far this term appear to impact healthcare incidentally, rather than targeting it. Broadly-applicable law is more likely to avoid two perils common in health policy - micromanagement, and special-favor laws.

Senate hearing videos are more difficult to find than those in the House. It helps to have the hearing date (in agendas, below) when accessing committee playlists, which are not infallible. https://cloud.castus.tv/vod/misenate/playlist/Labor?page=PLAYLIST

I'll attempt to copy the 11 committee audio files to date, with the link as backup. https://committeeaudio.senate.michigan.gov/2025-2026/

Recordings

• Labor 120524.mp3
  
• Labor-01-29-2025_0201PM_38_53.mp3
  
• Labor-04-17-2025_0830AM_26_43.mp3
  
• Labor-05-1-2025_0846AM_24_26.mp3
  
• Labor-12-12-2024_0830AM_14_27.mp3
  
• Labor-05-13-2025_0946AM_38_60.mp3
  
• Labor-06-12-2025_0832AM_21_10.mp3
  
• Labor-06-17-2025_0950AM_43_42.mp3
  
• Labor-09-4-2025_0830AM_33_10.mp3
  
• Labor-10-23-2025_0833AM_05_71.mp3
  
• Labor-10-30-2025_0202PM_54_34.mp3

Tuesday, May 13, 202     9:45 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 6
Sen. Hertel
Labor: fair employment practices; various employer requirements; provide for.

SB 7
Sen. Camilleri
Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for certain employer violations; provide for.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Thursday, June 12, 2025    8:30 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 54
Sen. Cherry
Labor: hours and wages; certain state projects paid for by bond or bond proposals, exempt from prevailing wage act.

SB 319
Sen. Klinefelt
Labor: collective bargaining; minimum staffing levels within a bargaining unit; make a mandatory subject of bargaining for certain public employees.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Tuesday, June 17, 2025    9:45 a.m.

AGENDA

SB 54
Sen. Cherry
Labor: hours and wages; certain state projects paid for by bond or bond proposals, exempt from prevailing wage act.

SB 319
Sen. Klinefelt
Labor: collective bargaining; minimum staffing levels within a bargaining unit; make a mandatory subject of bargaining for certain public employees.

And any other business properly before the committee.

Consequently, other parts of government frequently mandate ways for society to pick up the slack. (This in addition to the obvious lesson of government-run healthcare benefits.)

I've highlighted in bold font the bill that potentially impacts healthcare.

Thursday, June 13, 2024    9:00 AM

PLACE:   Room 326, House Office Building, Lansing, MI

AGENDA:

HB 5736 (Rep. Mentzer) Labor; other; notice of veterans' services and benefits; require employers to post.

SB 571 (Sen. Cherry) Labor; hours and wages; prevailing wage; require on certain solar and wind energy projects, and require contractors to obtain a registration to perform work on certain projects.